This afternoon, shortly after I posted today’s “Before & After,” I saw that Amy McMaster posted her latest Photoshop Elements freebie. It’s called “Squeaky Clean.” “It’s a simple little action that plays out levels (to tweak lights and darks), a shadow boost to deepen shadows a bit, a color balance layer to tweak skin tones, a color booster that is easy on the skin tones, a layer for running Noiseware (or other noise removal software) or clone work, a simple eye pop, a red fix layer (great to use on bloodshot eyes, lessening red in...

I’m still working through a number of photos that my internet photography friends sent my way. This afternoon, I thought I’d share Naomi. Her mother sent me some of her Easter portraits for my challenge. This first one really needed some help, but I was able to save it. My steps included: Adjusted the curves.Adjusted the levels. Adjusted the brightness.Adjusted the color curves (for her skin tone).Applied Pioneer Woman’s Bring Out the Eyes action. Applied Coffeeshop’s Baby Powder Room to even out her skin tone. Cropped in even closer (since she’d already...

Meet Allie. After drooling over a few of her mother’s macro shots recently, it seems only appropriate that she gives me a couple of shots to edit. Furthermore, I know that dandelions are technically weeds, but Allie really knows how to work them. With this first one, although I know she didn’t mean to tilt the photo…I think it works. However, I did want to adjust the composition and push Allie to the far left (this required a little eye dropper/paint bucket/healing action to fill in the new space created on the right). From there, I used Coffeeshop’s Baby Powder Room...